How to setup NIC team on a HP ProLiant DL 380 for fault tolerance and Load Balance

NIC teaming is the process of grouping together several physical NICs into one single logical NIC, which can be used for network fault tolerance and transmit load balance. The process of grouping NICs is called teaming. Teaming has two purposes:

• Fault Tolerance: By teaming more than one physical NIC to a logical NIC, high availability is maximized. Even if one NIC fails, the network connection does not cease and continues to operate on other NICs.

• Load Balancing: Balancing the network traffic load on a server can enhance the functionality of the server and the network. Load balancing within network interconnect controller (NIC) teams enables distributing traffic amongst the members of a NIC team so that traffic is routed among all available paths.

To configure NIC team, you will use HP Network Configuration Utility (NCU.  Please follow these steps:

1. Open the HP Network Configuration Utility (HP Network) from Control Panel.

2. The NCU displays all NICs.

3. High light all NICs you want to be the team and click Team on the left panel.

4. The top of the NICs displays HP Network Team #1. High light it and select Properties.

5. The screen of the properties for the network adapter team displays. By default, there are two team settings and both are Automatic (Recommended).

6. On the Teaming Controls, enter the appropriate team name.

7. From the Team Type Selection, select the Transmit Load Balancing with Fault Tolerance (TLB)

6. From the Transmit Load Balancing Method, select TCP Connection

7. Click OK to save the settings.

8. If the configuration is successful, you should see another network connection in the Network Connections. The Status of the Teaming Controls will display available.  Also the ipconfig will display one connection with just one IP that is for Fault Tolerance. If you configured it using TLB, the speed of the team will be double. You can check the status from the network connection icon in the system tray icon.

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